Conley, Turner and the rest of the story

Friday

Jul 30, 2010 at 12:01 AMJul 30, 2010 at 7:26 PM

After visiting with Mike Conley Jr. and Evan Turner at Conley's youth basketball camp Wednesday at Worthington Kilbourne High School, I fed Bob Hunter a Rumbling for today's paper on their opinion of Jared Sullinger's play in pickup games in the Schottenstein Center this summer.

Unfortunately, there evidently was not enough space for all of what they had to say. So here's the rest:

"Sully's going to be a double-double from day one," Turner said.

When I told him he might be putting too much pressure on the freshman with those expectations, Turner said, "I'm not lyin'. He's that good."

Conley was even more bullish. He predicted a triple-double, though with a smile.

Conley also said he thinks Sullinger and Dallas Lauderdale can play together because Sullinger is nimble enough to guard some smaller power forwards.

"And," he added, "they'll have to guard him at the other end."

I drove up to the camp to interview Conley, Daequan Cook and Greg Oden for a story that will run in Sunday's Dispatch on the pivotal season each has ahead of him.

After visiting with Mike Conley Jr. and Evan Turner at Conley's youth basketball camp Wednesday at Worthington Kilbourne High School, I fed Bob Hunter a Rumbling for today's paper on their opinion of Jared Sullinger's play in pickup games in the Schottenstein Center this summer.

Unfortunately, there evidently was not enough space for all of what they had to say. So here's the rest:

"Sully's going to be a double-double from day one," Turner said.

When I told him he might be putting too much pressure on the freshman with those expectations, Turner said, "I'm not lyin'. He's that good."

Conley was even more bullish. He predicted a triple-double, though with a smile.

Conley also said he thinks Sullinger and Dallas Lauderdale can play together because Sullinger is nimble enough to guard some smaller power forwards.

"And," he added, "they'll have to guard him at the other end."

I drove up to the camp to interview Conley, Daequan Cook and Greg Oden for a story that will run in Sunday's Dispatch on the pivotal season each has ahead of him.

All were first-round draft choices in 2007 and, after three seasons, none has established himself as a fixture with his team, though Conley had an encouraging second half of last season with Memphis. It's a pivotal year because their rookie contracts expire after this season and all could become free agents.

"Itís a big year for me, a big year for my team, and I want to do well and succeed," Conley said. "If we can do that, if I can do that, I have a great chance of getting a lot of different looks from different teams."

Turner, who was spending his next-to-last day in Columbus (the lease on the apartment he shared with Jon Diebler expired), talked about the rough go he had with the Philadelphia 76ers summer-league team in Orlando shortly after he was taken No.2 in the NBA draft.

"We did a scrimmage vs. Utah and I remember getting picked up full-court and guys all up in my chest," he said. "I was like, 'Man, these guys are after me,' and they were saying, 'Hey, youíre the No.2 pick.'

"It never hit me that people are fighting to put food on the table, people are trying to earn a spot on the team, and Iím their target to try to make the team. I was like, 'Wow.' Itís a different level, a different mentality, when it comes to people feeding their family and stuff like that. People perform differently under pressure."

Turner, who attributed his poor play to not playing much competitive basketball since the season ended to avoid injury before the draft, said he expects to regain his form by the time the season starts.

"Itíll be fine," he said. "I have confidence in myself. I know how I can play. Iím all ready for a battle."

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